Law Week is a national event originated by the CBA celebrating the signing of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Held every April, Law Day provides an important opportunity to help Canadians learn about their justice system and to project a positive image of the CBA and the legal profession. The theme for Law Week 2007 was “Access to Justice” and this year, we also celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the signing of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Law Week events were held across the province in the communities of Dawson Creek, Fort St. John, Nanaimo, New Westminster, Port Coquitlam, Prince George, Vancouver, and Victoria. Highlights of all B.C. Law Week events can be found below.

The CBABC thanks the Law Week Committee members for their work in organizing the Law Week 2007 events. The Committee, chaired by Debbie Granger, included Alison Campbell, Cindy Cheuk, Bill Clarke, Marika Giles, Beayue Louie, Sarah Klinger, Karla Koles, Arsen Krekovic, Forrest Nelson and So Yin Woo. Key partners included: the People’s Law School, the Law Courts Education Society of B.C., Northern Lights College, Malaspina College-University and the Ministry of Attorney General of British Columbia.

Law Week is funded by the CBA, the Law Foundation of B.C., and the Vancouver Bar Association. The Victoria Bar Association also sponsored Law Week events in its community. In addition, for the second year, a number of businesses and organizations sponsored Law Week 2007 events including: Lang Michener LLP, Stikeman Elliot LLP, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, Alexander Holburn Beaudin Lang LLP, Dye & Durham, Canadian Springs, and Miller Thomson LLP. Thanks to all our partners and sponsors for their invaluable support of this year’s events.

A variety of fun and educational Law Week events were held in communities across the province which celebrated this year’s theme “Access to Justice” and the 25th Anniversary of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Open Houses and Other Events in Local Communities
Dawson Creek – April 19, 2007
Dawson Creek’s Law Day focused on a mock murder trial performed by students from the South Peace Secondary School’s Law 12 class. Students performed all of the roles and members of the public served on the jury. Other events included a court tour and information booths from a variety of justice organizations. Special thanks to Tanya Helton for organizing the events in both Dawson Creek and Fort St. John.

Fort St. John – April 18, 2007
The most popular event at this very successful Open House was a mock trial involving local lawyers, judges, a police officer and members of the public who served on the jury. This was followed by a Q&A session with the Judge where members of the public asked a number of valuable questions about the justice system. The Open House also included exhibit booths and displays from a variety of justice organizations including an RCMP police cruiser.

Nanaimo – March 5, 2007
A Law Day seminar by Judge Justine Saunders on “Women, the Family and Access to Justice” was held in Nanaimo on March 5th at Malaspina University-College. Our thanks to Judge Saunders and Michael Warsh for organizing this event.

New Westminster – April 19, 2007
This Open House which was strongly embraced by the public and court staff included a court orientation and tour. Sheriffs in attendance opened their two transport vehicles to the public. Q&A sessions with a Judge, Crown Counsel and Deputy Sheriff filled one courtroom to capacity. In another courtroom an elementary school performed a mock trial where Peter Pan was charged with abducting the Darling children. Special thanks to Glenn McArthur for organizing the events in both New Westminster and Port Coquitlam.

Port Coquitlam – April 20, 2007
This well-attended Open House featured similar events to those held in New Westminster. The mock trial was met with great interest, attracting more than 110 members of the public. Extra seating to accommodate the audience was necessary for this popular event despite it being held in the largest courtroom in the Port Coquitlam Provincial Courthouse.

Prince George – March 23, 2007
The Prince George Open House was held early to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Prince George Law Courts. It was the best year ever, with over 400 participants and members of the public attending the events. Events included two mock trials; “Spot the Target” contest co-sponsored by ICBC; “How well do you know Canadian law” contest; 13 display tables from public service agencies; a Citizenship Court; and presentations by a variety of the legal system representatives. The events also included a RCMP dog handler and his police dog. Special thanks to Karen Hall-Lemon and Anita Meldrum for organizing the events in Prince George.

Vancouver – April 21, 2007
The Vancouver Open House events were also a huge success. This year’s events included a public forum hosted by Ian Hanomansing of CBC. Members of the public were invited to ask questions of a panel of senior justice representatives. This received considerable media attention and was very well-attended by the public. The Open House also included a citizenship ceremony where 60 people from 32 different countries were welcomed as new Canadian citizens. The Honourable Wally Oppal, QC, Chief Justice Lance Finch, Senator Mobina Jaffer QC, and Kerry-Lynne Findlay, QC participated as keynote speakers. Other events included free law classes hosted by the People’s Law School, a high school mock trial, displays and demonstrations from 32 organizations including police horses, motorcycles, cars, and a boat and sheriff’s vehicles. Our thanks to Sylvia Wong, Director John Kent and the staff at Citizenship and Immigration Canada for coordinating the citizenship ceremony and to Andrew Nip of the People’s Law School for organizing the free law classes.

Victoria – April 21, 2007
This year’s Open House events included: an interactive mock trial; police seminars on crystal meth, dating violence and impaired driving; Q&A session with members of the Provincial and Supreme Court judiciary and B.C. Sheriff Services; a court tour; resource rooms on civil, family and criminal law; and a mock trial competition. Our thanks to Sylvia Sangha and Kerry Simmons for their work in the planning of this year’s events.

Dial-A-Lawyer
On April 21, 2007, 24 lawyers volunteered at the CBABC province-wide “Dial-A-Lawyer” Program between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. by providing free legal advice to the general public. During that time, members of the public were invited to call and speak with a lawyer for up to 15 minutes on the following topics: Business Law, Wills Estates & Trusts Law, Criminal Law, Tort and Motor Vehicle Law, and Family Law. There were 235 calls received from members of the public from all regions of the province, a 30 per cent increase from last year, including 78 Chinese speaking callers. The Law Week Committee thanks S.U.C.C.E.S.S. for their participation in recruiting Chinese speaking lawyers to assist with this event and all the volunteers who answered Dial-A-Lawyer calls and assisted with this year’s event.

Student Contests
The following events attracted participation from high school and elementary school students from across the province:

• Barry Sullivan Law Cup Public Speaking Contest – Open to students enrolled in Grades 11 and 12, this year’s event was held on April 19th at the Vancouver Law Courts. Eighteen students from 15 schools around the province, including Kamloops, Kelowna, Vernon and Victoria, participated in this contest which involved each student presenting a five minute speech on one of the following two topics: “Is there or is there not an issue with the accessibility of justice to the average Canadian citizen? What does Access to Justice mean to you?” and “Does the Charter of Rights and Freedoms set Canada apart from other countries in the world?” The semi-finalists were judged by panels made up of lawyers and retired members of the judiciary and the finalists presented their speeches to a panel consisting of Chief Justice Lance Finch, Chief Justice Donald Brenner and Professor Elizabeth Edinger.
• Essay Contest – This contest which was open to students in Grades 8 to 12 involved students preparing essays on the topics described above.
• Poster Contest – Students in Kindergarten to Grade 3 were invited to submit posters on the topic “Access to Justice.”

The winning essays and posters can be viewed at www.bclawweek.org. We would like to thank all of the semi-finalists, judges, and students for their participation in this event and Mr. Sullivan’s widow Ms. Dawn Waddell and her family for their support of the Barry Sullivan Law Cup event.

Fun Run/Walk
Members of the legal community and their families and friends participated in the 4th Annual Fun Run/Walk held on April 1st at Locarno Beach Park. Seventy-two participants of all ages braved the cool, but sunny weather to join in this fun event. Awards were given in the categories of fastest female, male, female under 14, male under 14, legal organization or law firm with 50+ employees, and legal organization or law firm with 49 or less employees. Thanks to Lisa Hartley Photography and congratulations to all of our winners and to everyone who participated in this event!

Student Mentor Program
Grade 11 and 12 students in Greater Vancouver were matched with lawyers to spend a half-day in their workplace. In addition, lawyers were matched to attend high school classes. Strong support from lawyers throughout the Lower Mainland resulted in this event providing very valuable learning opportunity for students who have an interest in pursuing a legal career.

Some of the innovative mentorships included matching groups of students spending a half-day at the law firms Borden Ladner Gervais and Warren & Eder, and the Vancouver Crown Counsel office. The Crown Counsel matches included a half-day of seminars that were organized by Andrea Spence of the Vancouver Provincial Crown office where 30 Grade 12 students from 13 different schools attended presentations on conducting direct and cross-examinations, the role of Crown Counsel, and a Q&A session with a judge. Thank you to all of the lawyers, other justice system representatives and students for their participation in this event.

Free Law Classes
The People’s Law School and public libraries hosted four well-attended law classes which were free for the general public from April 16th to 19th in Greater Vancouver communities. The topics of the classes included Landlord & Tenant Law, Scams to Avoid, and Wills & Estates. Thanks to Andrew Nip of the People’s Law School and to the Burnaby, Coquitlam and Surrey Public Libraries for organizing these classes.

Thanks to Our Volunteers and Participants
We would like to thank all of the many Law Week volunteers, participants, and organizations whose participation in and support of Law Week events played a key role in the huge success of this year’s events. A full listing of all of the volunteers, participants and organizations can be found at www.bclawweek.org.

This article was published in the June 2007 issue of BarTalk and is subject to the copyright by the British Columbia Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, 2007, all rights reserved.